Looks Unimportant...Sense of Humour Essential

by Evie Evans

  “The alibi?”

  “Oh, I got a list of women as long as your arm that can apparently provide him with alibis for those dates. No woman in London is safe from him so watch yourself.”

  “The reports are true then.”

  “I’ve got their addresses and phone numbers from his secretary,” Lucy explained.

  Katherine examined the list Lucy handed her. “You need to talk to them, check these meetings were genuine and verify the dates with them. Do they all live in London?”

  “All except one, she’s in Northern Ireland.”

  “It would be best for you to go round and speak to them in person, rather than over the phone. This is a delicate business and interviewing them face to face would be better. We’re looking to establish an alibi and for that we need reliable, trustworthy witnesses. Meeting them in person will help you to judge how they come across. If we get to court we don’t want to be relying on witnesses likely to turn up high or drunk, or belligerent if they felt used if what you say about him is true. Unfortunately you’ll have to ring the Irish one, that’s a bit far to travel. We need to establish if they’d be willing to testify in court to these meetings. Are any of them married?”

  “Oh. I didn’t think to ask if any of them are,” Lucy admitted.

  “It could be important. The last thing we want is for another husband to file for divorce because he thinks his wife’s been playing away with Leander Brooke.”

  “Good point.”

  “So check their marital status and be careful what you say in front of any partners. We’re not looking to break up any more marriages. A gentle approach would be good.” She caught sight of the look of worry on Lucy’s face. “You’ll do fine.”

  *

  Lucy checked her messages again before heading out to check Mr Brooke’s alibi. A small part of her was still hoping Simon might respond. Nothing. She wished she knew why, one way or another; it would be better than wondering.

  She’d had a reply from ‘legaleagle’ already though. He would meet her. She consoled herself that was something. He sounded a bit dull but he’d always been keen, the opposite of Simon really. He couldn’t meet during the daytimes so she broke her rule and agreed to meet him in the evening, but only for drinks.

  Then she went to interview Mr Brooke’s women. The first lived in a smart apartment block in Farringdon. Lucy had arranged a time to call on her after a brief explanation on the phone. She deliberately hadn’t mentioned the divorce case, only that Leander Brooke was involved in a legal matter. She was feeling strangely excited to see what type of woman would get involved with someone like Mr Brooke.

  Liz Wilton, a pretty thirty-year old, opened the door wearing silk pyjamas despite the fact it was three-thirty in the afternoon.

  “Good afternoon,” Lucy greeted her nervously. “I’m Lucy Davenport from–“

  “Oh, yes, yes. Come in.” She led Lucy into an immaculate living room with elegant furnishings and draped herself over a futon-like sofa. If she’d just gotten up she didn’t look like it, her hair was perfectly styled and her face flawless. Lucy thought how she looked when she got up in the mornings. Rumpled mostly. She perched on the edge of a nearby chair not wanting to make the place look untidy.

  “Sorry to disturb you like this. I’m calling on behalf of my client Leander Brooke.”

  “How is Leander?” Liz Wilton asked absentmindedly, busying herself with finding a packet of cigarettes. Lucy noticed she had perfectly manicured nails painted a chic gold colour.

  Lucy declined the cigarette offered her. “He’s well I think. He’s provided your name as an alibi for the night of the 6th March this year. I was wondering if we could just go over a few details?” Lucy asked pulling a notepad and pen out of her bag.

  Liz Wilton waved her hand in agreement, blowing a big cloud of smoke into the air.

  “So can I just verify that you are Elizabeth Wilton?” This was greeted with a nod. “And is that a Miss, Mrs, or?” Lucy asked trying to sound casual about such an important question.

  “Miss.”

  Good, no husband to complicate matters. Lucy scribbled it down.

  “And can you verify if you were with Mr Brooke that day?… And night?” she added quietly. “The 6th March.”

  “Wait a minute, I’ll see.” She unfolded from the sofa and walked over to a small table that held a phone. She appeared to be flicking through a diary. Did everyone in London keep a diary?

  “Oh yes, we went up to my place in Wales for the weekend. It’s so nice to get away from it all sometimes isn’t it?”

  Lucy wasn’t sure what Miss Wilton needed to get away from. Her life didn’t look that stressful.

  “Leander drove us up on the Friday and we came back the Sunday night. He had a meeting in the morning or something,” she said vaguely.

  “And he was with you the entire time?”

  “Yes. We had people over too, the Kendall-Jones. And we bumped into the vicar Saturday lunchtime.”

  Suddenly it sounded less like Dynasty to Lucy and more like the Archers. “Right, well that certainly looks fine. As I said Mr Brooke is involved in a small legal dispute at the moment. If it became necessary, would you be prepared to say you were with him in court? It would be a last resort obviously,” she added hastily not wanting it to sound a big deal.

  Liz Wilton considered this for a moment. “I suppose so, if I absolutely had to.”

  “Thank you.” Now she needed to prepare her for who else might be there. “There are some more dates being contested. Some of Leander’s other friends are involved too. They would also be called if it went to court, so you wouldn’t be alone,” she added trying to make it sound a positive thing. “Some of the other friends are also ladies?” she said delicately.

  Miss Wilton’s face froze for a moment. “Of course. Well if he needs me, tell him to give me a ring,” she replied with a smile that looked less than sincere.

  Lucy got her to sign a simple statement and left. She’d promised Katherine she’d let her know how the meetings were going so she gave her number a ring as soon as she got back onto the street.

  “How was it?” Katherine asked straightaway.

  “Good, she’s not married, she was with him that weekend and she is willing to testify if she has to,” Lucy told her counting off all the salient points.

  “Excellent. Did you make her aware who else would be testifying?”

  “Yes. I told her there were other ‘friends’, some ladies. She didn’t look thrilled but she didn’t say no.”

  “Okay, when are you seeing the next one?”

  “On my way there now.”

  The second address was a less fancy flat in Putney. Lucy was curious to see what Carole Bowen looked like. The person she’d spoken to on the phone had positively purred. There seemed to be a pattern forming of the women Leander Brooke dated.

  A man answered the door. Uh oh, Lucy thought, I hope he’s just a flatmate.

  “I’m here to see Carole Bowen,” she explained. “She’s expecting me.”

  “Caro, someone for you,” he shouted behind him.

  Carole Bowen appeared, looking every bit as glamorous as Liz Wilton, only fully dressed, and she had a throaty voice which screamed sex appeal.

  “You’d better come in,” she offered although she looked uncomfortable.

  Lucy followed her in to the living room and took the offered place on the sofa. The man who’d let her in sat at the other end.

  “Oh,” Carole Bowen said to him. “Don’t you have some tinkering to do darling?”

  The man looked enquiringly at her.

  “Miss Davenport is just here to talk about some voluntary work, you don’t want to listen to that,” she told him.

  “You don’t want me here you mean,” he said smiling at her. He got up and left, dropping a kiss on the top of her head as he went past.

  “Sorry,” Lucy began. “I hope this won’t cause any trouble, me coming here.”

  “Don�
��t worry,” Carole Bowen told her sneaking a nervous peak at the door which showed that she was doing the opposite. “He came home early from work. Not that it matters,” she assured Lucy as she opened her mouth to speak. “Leander was before we got together. I just don’t want to rub Tim’s nose in it.”

  “I understand.” Lucy grabbed her notepad from her bag with a new impetus to get through the questions and get out as quickly as possible. “Can I check if it’s Miss, Mrs? Are you married?”

  “No. It’s Miss. But we live in hope don’t we?” She gave a breathy laugh.

  Lucy smiled politely. “Can you confirm that you were with Mr Brooke that night, Miss Bowen, the 20th March? He mentioned you went to a premiere of a play?”

  “Oh,” she smiled attractively, “yes, that’s right, we did.”

  “You don’t need to double check on a calendar or a diary or anything?” Lucy asked, wanting her to be certain.

  “No.” Carole shook her head making her hair fly around like in a shampoo ad. Lucy stared at her, fascinated. “It was two days before my birthday, that’s how I know.”

  Now the difficult part. “And may I ask, if it’s not too indelicate,” she added, lowering her voice, “what time you two parted that night?”

  “Oh honey,” Carole answered seductively, “it was the next morning. We had a little supper at this darling club off Bond Street after the theatre, very frou, frou. Leander always knows all the best places!”

  “I bet he does,” Lucy commented dryly.

  “Then we came back to my place and well…” She left the sentence unfinished.

  “I get the picture. What time would you say he left? Just for the record.”

  “After breakfast. You don’t send a man out on an empty stomach after a night like that sugar.”

  Hearing all this Lucy was starting to feel a little inadequate.

  “And would you be willing to verify this in court if need be?”

  “Hmm. Well it wouldn’t be all that convenient, I can’t imagine Tim would like it much,” she commented glancing at the door. “But if Leander really needs me…” she dropped her voice, “…anytime.”

  “Right,” Lucy said feeling a little uncomfortable herself now, “I’ll let him know.”

  “Not at all. So you’re his…lawyer are you?” Carole asked, in a tone that implied she thought there was a lot more going on.

  “Yes,” Lucy told her flatly, looking her straight in the eyes.

  “I hope he isn’t working you too hard.”

  “Oh no, it’s fine.” Lucy decided it was time to go and got up. “Thanks for your time.”

  “Tell Leander to get in touch, if he needs me.”

  Lucy left feeling a bit dazed. She hadn’t realised women like that really existed. She knew she wasn’t that experienced with men but in comparison with that woman she was like a naïve schoolgirl. No wonder she hadn’t got a date for her cousin’s wedding.

  “Hi Katherine. Two down. No she wasn’t married either. What they used to call a maneater I think. She came across okay but she’s living with a man now and a court case could be awkward. Right. I’m seeing the PR women now.”

  The PR firm wasn’t too far from her office so Lucy went in feeling like she was on the home straight. She confirmed that they’d had a meeting with Leander Brooke on the night he claimed and had been with him until just after 8.30pm. They were not at all happy about making a court appearance though, they didn’t want their firm’s name connected with anything negative, ‘bad karma’ apparently.

  *

  “It’s a shame,” Lucy told Katherine when she got back to the office, “they’d probably be the most credible witnesses of the lot.”

  “Well, maybe Mr Brooke can talk them round if it goes to court. I bet they wouldn’t want to lose his business,” Katherine told her. “What about the author?”

  “No chance. I can’t get anywhere near her. Louise Shepperton’s assistant eventually confirmed her employer was with him that night after I practically had to give my inside leg measurement just to assure her who I was. I don’t know if Mr Brooke can get us in to see her, she won’t see us otherwise.”

  “And the woman in Ireland?” Katherine asked.

  Lucy looked at her watch. Almost 6 o’clock. Probably not a bad time to catch someone. “I’ll ring her now,” she said. Her conscience would feel better if she stayed late anyway, to make up for some of the time she’d spent on the dating website.

  “What’s he been up to?” was the first thing Katy Towers asked. Not one to beat around the bush Lucy thought, though she sounded more normal than the others, not purring or simpering down the phone.

  Lucy was careful how she described the case, she didn’t want to give away too much detail. “He’s part of a civil suit so we need to verify his whereabouts. Don’t worry it’s not a criminal case,” she reassured her.

  “He’s not in trouble with the police then?”

  “No, it’s nothing to do with the police. It’s a private case.”

  “He’s not suing that woman is he?” Katy asked excitedly.

  Lucy’s ears pricked up. What woman she wondered? “No, nothing like that.”

  “Only I heard she was back over from America,” Katy continued. “After what she did to him I thought maybe he was trying to get his own back.”

  Lucy listened rapt. What was this all about? What had the woman done?

  Katy answered before she had to ask. “You don’t break the heart of someone like Leander Brooke, steal his business and get away with it you know.”

  8 Dad

  Lucy was stunned. Break his heart? Steal his business? This was some woman by the sound of it. Leander Brooke always seemed so on the ball. Perhaps his life wasn’t as perfect as it seemed after all.

  “What was her name again?” Lucy asked casually, feeling a little curious after all the digging she was doing into his life.

  “Oh, I can’t remember now. Funny because I was telling someone about it just the other day. If he’s not suing her what’s this case about then?”

  Lucy explained as briefly as possible.

  “So you’re having to ring round his ladies to get an alibi for him?” Luckily she seemed quite amused by this and not at all upset as Lucy had feared. “Well, I wish you luck with that.”

  After hearing all about Katy’s new swimming pool and her problems at the beauty salon, Lucy managed to confirm the date of her ‘rendezvous’ with Leander and ring off. They probably wouldn’t need to drag her over from Ireland if it went to court but she’d seemed keen to be involved anyway. Lucy was often surprised at what other people found fun.

  That was the alibis sorted. It looked like the husband was mistaken about Mr Brooke and his wife. She hoped they wouldn’t come up with another set of dates she’d have to interview more of Mr Brooke’s girlfriends about, it had been demoralising enough so far.

  She couldn’t resist logging onto the dating website once more before she went home. Honestly, it was starting to become an obsession, a masochistic obsession. Still nothing from Simon but there was a message from someone called ‘Sebbo’. It was an unappealing user name but she decided she might as well read it.

  “Hi, I’m Sebastian, Leander’s brother,” it read.

  Lucy was suddenly a lot more interested, was this for real?

  “I guess your meeting with him didn’t go that well the other day. He asked me to apologise to you so sorry. Thought you would’ve been a good match, still do. Didn’t realise he was gonna be such a dick about it. He’s made me delete his profile so I’ve set up my own. Got some interesting messages! Anyway, he can be lame sometimes, we only put up with him cos of his money. He said you’re a lawyer, can I ask you if a person can get in trouble for lying about their age on websites?”

  Lucy didn’t know what to think when she’d read it. Presumably Mr Brooke hadn’t seen it himself. She couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Hi Sebbo,” she replied. “Thanks for the apology, it wasn’t the
best day I’ve ever had. I see from your profile that you’re a 30 year old pop star. Hope that’s working out well for you. Yes, I think you can get into trouble for lying about your age on websites not least from your brother! Be careful, Lucy.”

  *

  That weekend Lucy forced herself to go dress shopping. She had to buy a new one for the wedding and, with less than a month to go, she couldn’t put it off any longer. If she’d managed to sort out a date no doubt this would have been a happier occasion, a legitimate excuse to go spend money, but with no message from Simon and with not many other prospects on the horizon this day was torture.

  Shopping for pleasure was something Lucy had never gotten the hang of. Perhaps it was because after her mum died all the shopping had been done by her dad. And he hated it. Shopping for him was an ordeal to be overcome as quickly as possible. Her father was king of the ‘that’ll do’ school of purchasing. So Lucy had never understood why her friends back home enjoyed it so much. Some of them had been able to spend all day shopping without even buying much. It was a patience she’d never acquired so she’d been quickly excluded from such expeditions.

  Summer being peak wedding season there was a decent range in the fancy department store Lucy had picked and plenty of assistants to go with them. As soon as she got near one an assistant would pop up and offer to get her size.

  “Perfect for a party or a wedding,” an assistant effused over a dusky pink number Lucy was sizing up.

  “Mmm.”

  “Matching accessories are also available, including men’s handkerchief.”

  For that all over Barbie and Ken look? Lucy wanted to answer. Except there was no Ken. “Lovely,” she commented.

  “There’s a gorgeous stiletto in a pale pink that goes perfectly with that,” the assistant told her as she checked out a large floral print sheath dress. It wouldn’t be good for Lucy’s figure though so she moved on.

  “We have some fantastic maxi dresses,” the assistant tried to sell to her, “very on fashion at the moment.”

  “I’m a bit short for them,” Lucy pointed out.